Rain Sparks San Francisco Metro Blues

It's hard to imagine San Francisco without its Metro subway in full swing, but residents were forced to endure the surface streets when their high-tech transit system blew a transformer after Sunday's rain storm. To compound matters, an unfortunate incident involving a woman in a wheelchair and an F-Market car further congested the streets.

A blown transformer at the Van Ness Muni Station in San Francisco caused the shutdown of the Metro subway system Monday evening.

Muni officials said the transformer blew at about 6 p.m. as a result of rain damage from Sunday's storm. Subway service had not reopened late Monday, but light-rail vehicles were running on surface lines in the western part of the city.

Also, cars on the F-Market line, which runs above ground, had been turned around at 11th Street for a time because of an earlier accident at Market and Dolores streets. The line was reopened at 8:35 p.m.